The Mighty Storm
by kittenamos
Summary: When Gabu and Mei traveled over the mountains to find some place to call home, they never expected to run into more wolves on the other side. As the days go by, love begins to blossom between Gabu and one of the female wolves from the new pack. What will Gabu do if he is forced to choose between love and friendship?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The moon was just starting to appear behind the mountains as the two friends climbed up the grassy embankment over their new den, making themselves comfortable. The strange pair sat in silence, at ease in each other's company. Both were lost in their memories over the past couple of weeks.

Gabu, the shaggy dark brown wolf, couldn't help but think about the pack he had left behind. They had been furious when they had learned about his new friend. They had given him a choice, betray his best friend or suffer the consequences, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He would rather die than have to double-cross Mei.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Gabu asked, breaking the silence. He was referring to the full moon that was continuing to rise before them.

"Yeah, it really is," Mei responded, sighing happily.

"I have been waiting so long to watch the moon rise with you, Mei."

"Me too, Gabu, but it was definitely worth the wait. Don't you think?"

"Yeah," agreed the wolf, "this is the best one ever."

Mei, the small white goat, let his mind wonder back to their trip over the mountains. They had gotten stuck in the snowstorm and had been trapped in a makeshift den for several days. He knew that he would be dead right now if it weren't for his friend keeping him warm. They had both suffered during the trip, but in the end it had all been worth it.

"Gabu?" Mei spoke up, after a moment of silence.

"Hmm . . ." Gabu turned away from the view to glance at the goat sitting next to him.

"We're finally able to be together. Aren't we?"

"Yes, Mei," he said, smiling at the thought. "We'll always be together. I promise."

* * *

The next morning, Gabu woke up to something brushing against his side.

Raising his head drowsily, he opened his mouth in a huge yawn before smacking his tongue against his lips. Still half asleep, Gabu turned his barely open eyes towards the body that was snuggled up next to him. A smile grew on his face at the sight of the small white body. The grin quickly turned into a frown as the sound of his stomach rumbling reached his ears.

Carefully, in order to not wake up his sleeping friend, Gabu slowly got to his feet and snuck out of the den.

Once outside, the wolf extended his front paws out in front of him allowing his bottom to stick up in the air as he stretched. He then gave himself a good shake before heading off into the woods behind his new home to search for something to eat.

Wandering through the trees, Gabu did see a couple squirrels jumping around in the branches above him, and he smelled some mice close by, but he was hoping to catch something a litter bigger. A rabbit, maybe . . . or even a deer, if he could manage to take one down by himself. It had seemed like weeks since he last ate.

It wasn't long before he came to the end of the cover of trees. He paused at the edge of the tree line, studying the scene before him.

Roughly a grown trees distance in front of him was a stream and the soft sounds of water running over rocks reached his ears.

Gabu slowly inched his way down the pile of rocks that were the only obstacle that stood in his way of the stream. Making it down unscathed, he felt his feet sink slightly down into the sand. He was shocked to discover that the new surface under his paws felt cool despite the hot sun that was beating down.

"Hey!" came a growl from across the stream.

Glancing up, Gabu jumped in surprise and took a couple frightened steps back on his hind legs.

A small group of wolves had appeared on the other side of the stream. The one that Gabu assumed had called out to him, was standing on top of a boulder near the water's edge, staring daggers at him . . . and he looked an awful lot like Giro, his former pack leader.

"Who are you?" the wolf barked again. He was starting to sound less irritated, and more curious. The intense stare even seemed to warm slightly.

Taking another look at the wolf, Gabu's racing heart began to return to normal. It wasn't Giro. The mutt did have the same black coat, and gray fur circled his mouth along with running up his legs in a similar appearance, but this wolf still had both of his ears in tack and the scar covering Giro's left eye was missing. He didn't recognize any of the other wolves either.

"Gabu," he called back when he was able to speak, and stepped closer to the stream. "I had to travel over the mountains to get here," he explained, nodding towards the trees behind him.

"You came over the Enchanted Peaks!" exclaimed one of the male wolves that were gathered close by. "By yourself?"

Thinking it would be best not to mention Mei, Gabu nodded in agreement.

"You must by hungry after your trip. Why don't you join us for a hunt?" the wolf on the rock asked, inviting him over.

* * *

Mei blinked open his eyes and raised his head. Turning in search of his friend, he quickly realized that he was alone. Getting to his feet, he made his way over to the den's entrance.

"Gabu?" he called out, scanning the grassy meadow. The sun was already high in the sky. "He must have gone hunting," he said to himself.

Mei's stomach growled in agreement, reminding him that he had missed breakfast.

Deciding to get something to eat while he waited for his friend to return, the goat stepped out into the sunlight. He headed around to the back of the burrow before bending down to taste the grass.

"Mmm . . ." he moaned around the green meal that he was chewing on. Swallowing, he bent down again to continue eating.

"Wait for me!"

"Hurry up, Sada!"

Mei raised his head, and glanced in the direction of the woods. Branches were shaking as some creature jumped nimbly from limb to limb.

"Slow down!" someone squeaked in annoyance.

A squirrel came to a stop on a branch that was just a few feet above Mei's head. The little animal turned his head back the way he had just come.

"What's taking you so long?" he called.

A second squirrel suddenly appeared on the branch, staring angrily at its companion. This one was slightly smaller than the first.

"Mom said we have to stay together!" she cried.

"We would if you could keep up!" the first one shouted back.

"Hi," Mei spoke up, hoping to stop the argument that was beginning to grow between the pair. "I'm Mei."

"Sadow," greeted the first one before nodding towards his companion, "and the runt is my sister, Sada."

Sada sent her brother a glare before turning towards the goat.

"I didn't know there were any goats on this side of the stream," Sada said, tilting her head as she studied Mei.

"I just got here yesterday," the goat informed them.

"Where did you come from?" Sadow asked.

Mei stood up on his back legs and pointed one hoof towards the mountains behind him. "My friend and I traveled over those to get here."

The two squirrels gasped, their eyes getting big as they stared at the large peaks that were off in the distance.

"The Enchanted Peaks!" Sadow exclaimed.

"Oh, is that what they're called?" Mei asked, taking another look at the landscape. He let out a soft laugh as he turned back to the siblings, scratching his head in thought. "We did travel a long ways before even getting to The Peaks."

"Well, where's your friend?" Sada spoke up. "We can give you guy's a tour."

"I'm not sure," Mei said, getting back down on all fours. "He left our burrow this morning before I even got up . . . Full Moon Burrow."

"What?" Sada questioned.

"We named the small cave last night Full Moon Burrow," Mei explained, smiling at the memory.

"Okay, well, we can show you around now. When you see your friend, you can show him," Sadow replied excitedly.

"Yeah," agreed his sister. "We might even run into your friend on our way."

"Alright." The goat nodded.

Sadow stood up straight on his branch, digging his back claws into the wood to keep from falling. With one paw, he pointed behind Mei. "Like we said before, the mountains are The Enchanted Peaks."

Sada reached out with one paw to identify the meadow they were on the outskirts of. "And this is Pleasant Valley. A lot of the animals come here to eat the grass."

"It is tasty." Mei nodded in agreement.

"Come on," Sadow said, turning around. "Follow us." And he jumped to a nearby tree farther back in the woods.

Instead of attempting to keep up with her brother again, Sada chose to claw her way down the tree and hopped onto Mei's back. Together, they followed Sadow into the woods.

"This is Lush Wood!" Sadow called from out of sight.

"That's our home there," Sada announced. She had one tiny paw gripping a small clump of Mei's fur as she pointed up at the tree they were just passing under.

Following Sada's line of sight, Mei looked up at what appeared to be some form of nest with twigs and leaves. It sat in between a couple of limbs about twenty feet off the ground.

Mei was about to respond when a bird flew up just inches from his face, causing him to jump slightly in surprise.

"Sada!" chirped the skinny bird. The creatures red head looked bright compared to her brown body. "Who is your friend?" she asked, coming to rest at the goat's feet.

Sada stood up on Mei's back, resting her front paws on his head as she stretched her neck out in order to see the bird.

"This is Mei. He's new around here. My brother and I were just showing him around," the squirrel replied.

"Hi, I'm Mino," she introduced herself. She was hopping around on the grassy floor in excitement.

"And this is Doi," Sadow spoke up from a low branch. Another bird, this one chubbier than the first, was standing next to him.

Doi, Mino's mate, had blue feathers covering his head and went down his back to his tail. His stomach was a bright yellow.

Doi nodded at Mei in greeting, before turning to Sadow. "Have you showed him the stream yet?"

"Not yet," Sadow said. "This way." And he was gone again. The other animals quickly took off in pursuit.

Pushing his way through some bushes, Mei suddenly found himself out of the cover of trees. He managed to come to an abrupt stop before tumbling down a wall of rocks.

It wasn't long before all of his new friends had gathered around him.

Looking down at the stream below him, the goat couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

"The sand! It's . . ."

"This is Silver Sand Beach," Mino happily announced, clearly enjoying the shocked expression on Mei's face.

Mei pried his eyes away from the sand, and looked up to take in the rest of the landscape.

"I hope you guys are planning on warning your new friend about crossing the stream."

The five friends turned as one to welcome the new creature.

A young female bunny was just climbing out of her burrow under one of the bushes. She shook a couple leaves out of her brown coat before approaching the group.

"We were getting to that," Sadow stated firmly. His red fur puffed up in irritation of his tour being interrupted yet again.

"That's Hara," Sada whispered into Mei's ear. "She's only a couple weeks old, but she thinks she's smarter than all of us."

Hara hopped over to the group on her short and stubby legs. She nodded in the direction of a dark, creepy looking forest that was on the other side of the stream.

"That is the Black Forest, home to a furious wolf pack."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"I'm Tadashi," one of the wolves greeted Gabu when he made it to the other side of the stream. "My friend's call me Tad."

Gabu nodded in acknowledgement to the wolf as the pack turned and started to walk away from the water.

"That's Daichi," Tadashi continued, nodding towards the wolf that had invited Gabu over. "He's our leader . . . and that's Mika and Jun over there," he added.

As if on cue, Mika turned to meet Gabu's stare and sent him a small smile. Gabu felt his heart skip a beat. Her dazzling blue eyes seemed to bore into his soul, and her shiny light gray coat seemed to be sparkling in the sunlight.

"Don't bother," Tadashi warned, noticing the look on Gabu's face. "Jun has been trying to win her over for months."

"Jun likes her?" Gabu's heart sank. He had had a couple of crushes over the years, but the clumsy wolf always got turned down for someone more powerful. If Jun wanted her, he probably didn't stand a chance.

* * *

Gabu had ended up staying to hunt for lunch with the pack as well as breakfast. It was mid-afternoon by the time he got back to the burrow that he shared with Mei.

The goat was lying down on the grassy roof of their den, enjoying the heat of the sun, when he heard his friend approach.

"Gabu!" he exclaimed, bounding down the incline in excitement. "Where have you been? I was starting to get worried."

"Sorry, Mei," he apologized, lowering his head. "I met some wolves on the other side of the stream and they invited me . . ."

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Mei interrupted.

"What?"

Mei turned his eyes to the ground and shifted his hoofs uncomfortably. "Come on, Gabu. You remember what happened with your last pack. They tried to have us killed when they found out about our friendship."

Gabu shook his head. "The pack rarely comes to this side of the stream. Tadashi said . . ."

"Tadashi?" Mei asked, tilting his head to one side.

"He's one of the wolves in the pack. He said they hunt mostly on their side of the stream. They usually only come over here in the winter when food is scarce."

"I don't know . . ." Mei started cautiously. "After what happened the last time . . ."

"I need a pack, Mei. It's harder to hunt by myself, and this set up sounds promising," Gabu said, but in the back of his mind he was thinking about Mika. "If the pack stays on their side, they won't find out about us." He could tell that his friend was still unhappy, so he added, "We both nearly died getting this far, Mei. I think we should give this place a chance."

Mei considered this for a moment before he slowly nodded his head in agreement. "I guess there's no harm in giving this arrangement a try."

Gabu picked Mei up and held him close. "Thank you, Mei! This will be different than the last time. I swear it."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Gabu lunged at the same time as Tadashi, both coming within feet of a black goat. A startled scream escaped the little goat, and she stumbled backwards. Quickly recovering from her initial shock, she turned and ran in the opposite direction.

Ignoring the rest of the pack, Gabu took off after the girl.

The dark goat started to weave in and out of the trees, confusing the wolves and making it difficult for them to keep sight of her.

Mika lunged, managing to tackle the goat to the ground, but in its fright, the prey struck the wolf hard around her jaw and muzzle. Mika stumbled back in order to avoid further assault, allowing the black goat to dive for cover into some nearby bushes.

Gabu paused long enough to see if the female wolf was okay before returning back to the hunt.

Taking advantage of Gabu's pause in the chase, Tadashi dashed ahead and attempted to keep up with the frightened goat.

Gabu ran underneath the trees, keeping his eyes locked on Tadashi's flank. He could feel his legs getting sore, but he was desperate to prove himself to his new pack. Pushing his muscles harder, he forced his limbs to carry him faster through the forest . . . and ran face first into the trunk of a tree.

His head spun from the unexpected collision and the forest seemed to be teetering around him.

Laughter reached his humming ears. As the world began to feel steady again, Gabu got to his feet and turned to see Mika looking at him. Her eyes were still sparkling from her amusement.

"Are you okay?" she asked, taking a couple steps closer to him.

"Hmm . . ." Gabu mumbled, before realizing that she had spoken to him. "Oh, yeah," he scratched his injured head with his claws, and sent Mika one of his big smiles. "I meant to do that."

This brought out another fit of giggles from the female wolf.

The bushes behind them started to shake and another black goat jumped out. Seeing the wolves in front of him, he paused in his advance and stared in terror at the danger before him.

Mika instantly got down in her hunter's crouch and let out a low growl in warning. Crying out in alarm, the goat turned and bounded back the way he had come.

Before Mika could go after it, Gabu took the lead and jumped after the frightened creature. He could feel Mika running close behind him.

Heading out of the cover of trees, the group found themselves in an open meadow in the middle of the Black Forest.

Gabu pushed his legs harder until he was within pouncing distance before leaping at his prey and pinning it down. He growled as the black goat squirmed underneath him in fear.

"Please," the little goat cried. "Please don't!"

Gabu relaxed the muscles in his face, and blinked at the small animal beneath him. Staring into the eyes of the black goat, an image of Mei came to his mind.

Before Gabu's eyes, the dark goat's small green orbs appeared to grow and take on a hint of a purple hue. His black fur changed to a lighter gray, almost white. In his mind, Mei had taken the place of his former prey.

"Don't Gabu!" the frightened image of Mei cried out. "Don't eat me! I'm your friend!"

Horrified, Gabu swiftly pushed himself off of the goat, and watched as the black animal scurried towards the trees on the other side of the meadow, disappearing from sight.

"What was that?" a furious growl came from behind him.

Gabu whirled around to find Daichi's mate, Tora, staring him down. She was crouched down and baring her teeth to him.

"You had it! How could you let it get away?"

Glancing over Tora's shoulder, he spied Tadashi and Mika staring back at him. Rin, the last member of their hunting pack, was just stepping out of the trees. Not taking her eyes off of the furious wolf in the middle of the open field, she walked over and started whispering to Mika.

"Gabu!" Tora barked, coming just inches from his face. "Explain yourself!"

Gabu turned his eyes away from the furry in Tora's, and tried to come up with a good excuse.

"A . . . a bee," he managed to get out.

"A bee?" Tora questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Gabu sat up on his hind legs in an attempt to get his leader's mate out of his face. "Yeah, you see . . . this bee flew right at me and . . ." he attempted to explain.

Tired of listening to his rambled excuses, Tora let a growl out between her teeth. "You don't belong here," she stated before turning and walking away. "The last thing we need is a clumsy wolf in our pack," she called back over her shoulder.

Gabu sighed as he watched Mika, Tadashi, and Rin silently follow Tora back into the forest. He was already being labeled as awkward with these wolves, just like in his old pack.

"I guess Mei was right," Gabu thought to himself as he slowly made his way back to the stream. "Perhaps it was a bad idea to try and get involved with another pack.

He had just stepped foot on the silver sand that surrounded the stream when he heard someone calling his name. Turning his head, he saw Mika hurrying after him.

"Don't worry too much about what happened," Mika said, as she came to a stop next to Gabu and sat down on the sand. "Tora's hard on everyone. It's just something you have to get used to in our pack."

Gabu took a seat beside her. "How do you think she would feel if I came back tomorrow to hunt with you guys?"

"Honestly, it doesn't really matter what she thinks. It's Daichi's pack, not her's . . . and Daichi seems to like having you around."

"Really?" Gabu asked happily.

Mika simply smiled back at him and gave him a small nod.

"Okay," Gabu said, getting back to his feet. "Then I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

He started to head closer to the stream when Mika called to him again.

"You must get lonely living over there by yourself. Why don't you just stay with us?" she invited.

Thinking of Mei waiting for him on the other side, Gabu instantly shook his head. "I actually like the solitude," he explained, and then turned away before Mika could question him farther.

* * *

"Mika!" Rin called to her as she entered one of the caves that the pack used as their homes. "What happened with Gabu?"

"Nothing," Mika stated as she strolled passed her friend.

"Well, what did you say to him?" Rin continued, following Mika farther into the cave.

Mika shrugged her shoulders. "I just told him not to take Tora too seriously."

"But is he going to join the pack?"

"He seems to like hunting with us," Mika explained, lying down, "but he said he's not interested in living with us full time."

"And you're okay with that?" Rin asked, lying down next to her friend.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you like him."

Mika turned to glare at her friend, but Rin ignored the stare.

"He obviously has feelings for you as well," Rin added.

Mika rested her head down on her paws. "Well, it doesn't matter how I feel. He said he prefers being alone."

Rin narrowed her eyes at this. "A wolf can't survive on his own. We need other wolves to hunt with."

Mika rolled her eyes at that. "Which is probably why he has been coming over here every day to hunt with us."

"Then why doesn't he just stay with us instead of traveling back and forth every day?" Rin asked, sitting up. "Something's not right . . ."

Mika raised her head to look up at her friend. "He probably just likes having some privacy."

Rin shook her head. "No . . . it's more than that." She turned and started to make her way outside.

"Where are you going?" Mika called after her.

"I want to know where Gabu goes every day when he leaves us." Rin paused at the entrance to the cave, and turned back to look at Mika. "You coming or not?"

Hesitantly, Mika got to her feet and followed her friend back outside, hoping that Gabu wasn't hiding anything that could get him into trouble.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Mika and Rin silently made their way through the Black Forest, Rin always a couple steps ahead. When they reached Silver Sand Beach, Mika took the lead and the pair made their way to the other side, the water splashing quietly around their legs.

"Which way did he go from here?" Rin asked as they stood at the edge of the woods.

Mika gave the air a quick sniff. "This way," she said before heading into Lush Wood.

With the presence of two wolves trotting through the trees, all of the animals had taken cover. The heads of the daring creatures, were pocking out of their nests and other hiding places, trying to get a good look at their predators. The only sound that could be heard was the soft footfalls of the wolves as they walked, and the occasional sound of a twig snapping.

Through the silence, a deep sounding laugh could be heard coming from the other side of the woods.

"That's Gabu!" Mika exclaimed.

"Come on," Rin said, walking towards the muffled voices that they could now hear in the distance. "Let's get closer."

"Rin . . ." Mika tried to warn her.

"I just want to see who he's talking to. We won't stay long," Rin reassured.

Approaching the end of the woods, Rin forced her way under one of the bushes. Mika squeezed in next to her, and they each pushed some leaves aside so they could see what was going on in the field. What they saw was not something that either of them had expected to find.

Mika was having a hard time wrapping her mind around what she was witnessing. Gabu, a wolf whom she had grown to consider to be one of her best friends, was sitting in the middle of Pleasant Valley, talking and laughing with . . . a goat.

The white goat seemed perfectly at ease in the presence of the wolf, which told Mika that this weird meeting between the two had probably been happening for a while.

"What . . . what is he doing?" Mika asked, still in shock.

"Why isn't he killing it?" Rin snapped. A low growl was growing in the back of her throat.

Turning towards her friend, Mika realized that Rin had already gotten over her initial surprise. Rin had managed to get into a low hunter's crouch under the bush, and Mika could tell she was preparing to dash out after the white goat.

"Wait," Mika hissed into her ear urgently. "Not yet."

"Why? Whatever this is, it can't continue," Rin hissed back, nodding in the direction of where Gabu and the goat were sitting.

Mika paused, not sure why she wanted Rin to stay out of it. If what she thought she was witnessing was really happening, then Gabu was going to be in big trouble with the pack . . . bigger than what had happened that morning.

There had to be a good explanation for this.

Mika pricked up her ears. "Can you hear them at all? What are they talking about?" she asked, trying to stall for time.

* * *

" . . . Sadow and Sada are the red squirrels. They are siblings, and sure fight like it," Mei said with a giggle.

Gabu and Mei were lying down in the grass right outside of their den, enjoying the last couple hours of sunlight.

Mei had gotten into a routine of meeting with his new animal friends in the mornings, while Gabu hunted with the wolves. They would typically meet back at Full Moon Burrow in the afternoon.

The system had been working out fine, but Mei wished that Gabu could hangout with the new friends that he had made. Things always seemed more fun when Gabu was around, and Mei hoped that he could convince him to meet the other creatures.

"And then there's Hara," Mei continued. "She's a bunny, only a couple weeks old, but she's smart and . . ."

"I can't, Mei," Gabu spoke up, interrupting his friend.

"You can't what?" Mei asked.

"Meet your new friends," he said, trying to be gentle about it. "That's what you want, isn't it?"

Mei turned his head towards the ground in despair at his friend's words. "Well, I was hoping . . ."

"I can't, Mei," Gabu repeated sadly. He hated seeing Mei so down, but he knew it would be a bad idea to become friends with more animals in his food chain.

"But why not?" Mei asked, staring at Gabu with pleading eyes. "You hunt with the pack on the other side of the stream. What's wrong with being friendly to the animals over here?"

Gabu turned away from Mei's begging eyes. "I've already gotten in trouble with the pack because of being friends with you."

Mei stood up in shock. "They know about us?"

"No! No," Gabu reassured his friend. Shaking his head, he moved into a sitting position in the grass. "It's just . . . I attacked a black goat during the hunt this morning, but then your face came to mind and I couldn't being myself to kill it. I think they are starting to get suspicious."

"I thought you didn't like goat meat," Mei said, narrowing his eyes at the wolf in front of him.

Gabu gulped in remembrance of this. "Well . . . you see, when you hunt in a pack, your hunting for everyone. Just because I attempted to kill the goat, didn't mean I was going to eat him." Seeing Mei's face relax at this, he went on. "Anyways, if I start befriending other creatures over here, I may have a harder time killing the same animals in front of the pack."

Mei lowered his head in defeat. "I guess that makes sense. I wish things could be different though."

* * *

Hearing enough, Rin scooted herself backwards until she was out of the bush, and gave herself a shake to get the leaves out of her fur. Mika was soon by her side.

"We have to tell Daichi," Rin said as she turned and started heading back the way they had come.

"Wait, Rin," Mika called, hurrying to catch up. "Do we have to tell him now?"

Rin stopped in her tracks and spun around to face her. "You just heard their conversation. He's gone and made friends with a goat, Mika! A goat!"

"Yeah, but . . ."

"Look, I know you have feelings for Gabu, but this isn't right. Being friendly with a goat . . . it's . . . it's . . ." Rin tried to find the right word to express her disgust, but nothing seemed appropriate for this. "We have to tell Daichi," she finished, turning away from her friend.

Mika quickly moved in front of Rin, forcing her to stop again.

"Just wait a day," Mika begged her friend. "Maybe we misunderstood what was happening. I'll talk to Gabu about it in the morning. Let me find out for sure what is going on."

Rin glared at Mika, baring her teeth as she gave a low growl. "And if he really has befriended that kid?"

"Then I'll try to convince him to drop the relationship, and give him another chance to join the pack," Mika said, hoping to buy Gabu some time. "If not, then you can tell Daichi about the goat." If this didn't work, it would at least give her a chance to warn Gabu before his secret got out to everyone.

There was a moment of silence between the two as Rin narrowed her eyes at her friend, thinking over Mika's proposal.

"Fine," she snarled. "You have until tomorrow night to fix this, or I'm telling."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

As the sun rose up behind the mountains, Gabu trudged his way through the tree cover of Lush Wood.

Squirrels were playing in the branches and the sounds of birds singing could be heard around him. With the passing weeks, the animals had grown accustomed to the lone wolf making the trip back and forth across the stream everyday, and no longer ran for cover whenever he came through.

Gabu didn't even glance up at the cheerful creatures as they enjoyed their morning. His thoughts were crowed with images of Mei.

The white goat had seemed so disappointed when Gabu had told him that he couldn't be a friend with any of the other animals. He still believed that it would be a bad idea for him to meet Mei's friends, but he would give anything for things to be different.

With a frustrated sigh, Gabu stepped through the last of the greenery and paused at the edge of the drop when he spotted Mika waiting for him on the other side.

This wasn't normal. After Daichi had invited Gabu over the first time, the new member had been expected to find them on his own to join in the hunts each morning.

Maybe Tora had told Daichi what had happened with the black goat yesterday. Did the pack's leader not want him around anymore after all? Was Mika here to warn him to stay away?

Mika had acted so kind to him yesterday. Was it possible that Mika had a crush on him? He had been wrong about such things in the past. She could simply be here to walk with him back to her pack.

Carefully making his way down the pile of rocks, Gabu began to splash his way across to meet up with the female wolf.

"Hey," Gabu called to her. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you about something, and I didn't want anybody to overhear the conversation," Mika stated, shifting her front paws nervously.

Her inability to meet his eyes was making him anxious. "What is it?"

Mika let out a sigh before finally looking at him. "I know about the goat."

Gabu froze and his eyes opened wide. "Goat . . . What goat?" he stuttered.

"Rin wanted to know why you didn't take us up on the offer to join our pack. A wolf wanting to be alone didn't make sense to her, so she convinced me to go with her to find out what was really going on." Mika tilted her head to one side, as she studied Gabu's reaction. "I guess we figured it out?"

"It . . . it's not . . ." Gabu tried to think of something to say, but nothing seemed like a good enough excuse. "Does Daichi know?"

"Not yet," Mika replied. "I convinced Rin to give you until tonight to leave the goat, and join us."

Gabu blinked in shock. "You could have turned me in right away. Why didn't you?"

There was a short pause before Mika responded. "I wanted to give you a chance to change your mind. I want you to stay here . . . with my pack."

"Mei is my friend," Gabu protested. "I can't just leave him. Not after everything we went through to get here."

Realization suddenly appeared on the female's face. "That's why you came here in the first place, isn't it? Your old pack found out about your . . . friend?"

Gabu nodded, hoping for the possibility that Mika may cover for him and Mei. "We came all this way to find a place where we could stay together. I can't just leave him now, Mika. Can you . . . keep this to yourself?"

"I can't!" Mika exclaimed at the thought. "A wolf being friend's with a goat? It's not right. I don't know how this friendship got started, but you can't continue to hunt with my pack if you keep hanging out with that goat." Lowering her voice, Mika took a step closer to Gabu so that there fur brushed against each other. "Please, Gabu. I want you to stay here."

The idea of staying here and being with Mika was extremely tempting, but his relationship with Mei meant a lot to him as well. Could he really agree to give up all contact with his best friend to be with Mika? And if he didn't stop seeing Mei, then Mika and Rin were going to tell Daichi. They would have to leave again.

Gabu glanced back at the trees behind him as he considered his options. He was just starting to feel like he belonged with these wolves, and Mei was making new friends here.

"Can you give us a couple days before you tell?" he asked. "Let me talk it over with Mei."

Mika sighed as she pondered this. "I may be able to talk Rin into waiting a couple of days," she started slowly, "but you have to decide what you're going to do soon. If Daichi finds out about this, you will no longer be allowed to hunt with us."

It didn't sound like they had much of a choice. If he wanted to keep Mei in his life, then they would have to leave, but he still wanted to talk to Mei about it before he made any permanent plans.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Gabu gave Mika a quick thanks for the warning. He then turned and bounded back across the water, disappearing into the Lush Wood.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Gabu forced his way through the underbrush as he hurried back through the woods to find Mei.

He couldn't believe how quickly Mika and Rin had found out about his best friend. Mei was right. Things were better . . . and less stressful, when it was just the two of them.

Gabu had almost made it back to the burrow when he skidded to a sudden stop. A familiar scent had reached him from his left. Sniffing the air, he was able to put a face to the smell.

Mei, and he was close.

As Gabu followed the scent, it wasn't long before he started hearing the sounds of Mei's laughter, among other voices.

* * *

"Mmm," Mei sighed happily. "These berries are tasty. Where did you find them?"

Mino swallowed the berry that was in her mouth, flapping her wings in excitement as the sweet juices lingered on her tongue. "There are berry plants everywhere in Lush Wood. These came from a bush not far from our nest," she replied, gesturing to her mate, Doi.

Sadow and Sada were sitting on a low branch of a tree, slightly above Mei's head. They each had a small bundle of berries clutched in their arms.

"These are so good," Sadow moaned around a mouth full of berries.

"Best berries ever," Sada agreed, jumping up and down causing the branch to wobble under Sadow. He quickly dug his back claws into the wood as he struggled to maintain his balance. By the time the branch was steady again, Sadow had lost a couple of the berries that he had been holding.

Hara rolled her eyes at the scene before her. "Come on, they're just berries. Can't we talk about something important? Like, what about the wolf that has been hanging out over here lately? Isn't anybody else worried about him?"

"Gabu?" Mei questioned, turning to look down at the light brown bunny. "You don't have to worry about him."

The group turned to stare at him in silence. Their stares showed a mixture of shock and disbelief.

"Mei . . . you know that wolf?" Hara asked slowly, clearly concerned.

Mei was quickly starting to regret saying anything. He had been hanging out with these animals everyday since he got here, and he was starting to belief that they would be excepting of his friendship with the wolf. After all, he had tried to talk Gabu into meeting them, but maybe it was a mistake to bring him up.

Before Mei could say anything though, a rustling sound came from behind him. Turning his head to look over his shoulder, he saw the leaves of a bush shacking. Before he could comprehend what was happening, a dark brown wolf leaped out and landed just a couple feet in front of him.

"Gabu!" Mei exclaimed. This out burst seemed to break the spell of shock that had befalling on the other creatures.

Hearing a gasp from one of his friends, Mei turned back in time to watch Sadow's small body stiffen and the squirrel's grip on the branch faltered. Still clutching his berries, the rigid body fell backwards out of the tree and disappeared under a pile of leaves. As Sada twisted around to check on her brother, Mino and Doi took flight and landed on a branch higher up in the tree to be safe, and Hara moved to hide behind Mei.

"Sorry," Gabu chuckled softly. "I didn't mean to frighten you."

Deciding this was probably the best time to introduce Gabu to his new friends, Mei nodded at the wolf before turning back to the animals. "Guys, this is Gabu. He's the friend that I told you about . . . He's the one that traveled with me over the Enchanted Peaks."

"B-but he's a wolf!" Hara exclaimed, poking his head out just enough to be able to take another look at the beast that stood before her. "You can't trust a wolf!"

"Gabu's not like most wolves," Mei calmly explained. Looking up at Sada and the birds, Mei continued. "You guys said you noticed him traveling back and forth through these woods. Have any of you seen him kill anyone on this side of the stream?"

The animals glanced uneasily at each other before slowly shaking their heads.

"That's because he's only been hunting with the pack on the other side. He's my friend, and he promised me he wasn't going to hurt anybody over here. You can trust him."

As he let his words sink in with his friends, he noticed that they still seemed suspicious about the idea of an affectionate wolf. Mei couldn't blame them for this. They all grew up being told to fear wolves. Coming to terms with the idea that they could trust this one, may take some time.

While Mei waited for his friends to compose themselves, he turned back to Gabu and quickly introduced them to him. As he talked, Mei subconsciously took in Gabu's body language. The wolf's eyes wouldn't stay focused on anything for more than a few seconds, and he kept fidgeting in his place.

"Are you okay, Gabu?" Mei asked, when he had finished with the introductions.

Mei could see the worry in his friend's eyes and instantly knew that something was very wrong.

As farther prove, Gabu urgently shook his head. "We need to talk, Mei," he insisted. Getting to his feet, he took a few steps in the direction of Pleasant Valley, and turned his head back to make sure Mei was going to follow him.

Without taking his eyes away from Gabu's anxious expression, Mei told his friends that he would see them later and quickly followed after his best friend.

Hara, Mino, Doi, and Sada stared after their new friend as he disappeared from view with the predator, still apprehensive about the strange turn of events.

Their eyes were finally drawn away from the landscape by the soft sounds of leaves crackling under the tree, and Sadow's little red head poked out of his hiding place.

* * *

"We have to leave," Mei said when Gabu had finished telling him what had happened. "First thing in the morning, we have to go."

The pair was lying down next to each other in the field right outside of the opening of their burrow. This place had quickly started to feel like home to them, and the idea of having to leave again was not something the friends wanted to do. This was the first place that they had truly felt safe to be together, and now that was being taken away from them. They were really going to miss this place.

"Are you sure, Mei? You have made some good friends here," Gabu said, trying to think through their options.

"If we want to keep seeing each other, we don't have a choice. We both left friends behind when we traveled here," Mei reminded him calmly. "We can leave again, and find another home."

Gabu stared down at his paws, thinking. "I don't know, Mei. Us being friends has caused a lot of problems so far. Wherever we go, we are going to ran into animals that aren't going to want us to be friends."

"So . . . what?" Mei exclaimed. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Are you saying you don't want to be my friend anymore?"

Gabu quickly shook his head. "I'm not saying that. It's just . . ."

Mei nodded in understanding. "I know, but we knew from the beginning that this was going to be hard."

"What are we going to do, Mei?" Gabu pouted. "We can't just move every time we get caught hanging out together."

Before Mei could think of something to say to pull his friend out of his funk, they heard a noise coming from the woods behind them. Seeing Mika appear from the bushes, Gabu instinctively got into a hunter's crouch in front of Mei and let out a low growl between his teeth.

"What are you doing here?" Gabu snarled as Mika drew closer, undeterred by his stance.

Mika came to a stop several feet away and sat down. "I'm sorry," she started. "I know, I shouldn't have followed you again, but this whole thing of a wolf being friend's with a goat . . ." she shrugged as she gestured in Mei's direction. "I'm trying to understand it. Rin was the one that wanted to turn you in to Daichi right away, but I . . . I like you, Gabu."

Hearing this, Gabu's expression relaxed and he moved into a sitting position. He could sense Mei behind him, peeking his head out from around his body, staring at the female wolf with wide eyes.

"Really?" Gabu gasped. "W-what about Jun? Tadashi said he liked you."

Mika choked back a laugh. "Me and Jun? Yeah, I know he has a crush on me, but I find him rude and annoying." She paused before continuing. "I don't want you to leave, Gabu. I would prefer that you join the pack with me . . . but it doesn't sound like you want to do that."

Gabu slowly shook his head. "I don't expect you to understand, Mika, but Mei is my friend. If you want to be with me, Mei's part of the package."

The female wolf let out a sigh. "Okay, I'll give the goat a chance if it means that much to you."

"Really?" Gabu exclaimed in excitement. Maybe they wouldn't have to leave after all. "That's great, Mika!"

"Umm, we still have one problem," Mei stated slowly.

"What?" Gabu asked, turning his head to look at the white goat. Not only did Mika like him, but she was also willing to keep their friendship a secret. What else did they have to worry about?

"Rin knows too," Mei reminded him, before turning to look back at Mika. "Do you think you could convince Rin not to say anything either?"

"Of course," Mika said, sitting up straighter, while trying to give off the appearance of confidence. "Rin is my best friend. Just let me worry about her."

Inside, she was starting to panic.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

After hunting with the pack the next day, Gabu convinced Mika to come back with him to Full Moon Burrow. Mika had agreed not to tell anyone about his friendship with Mei, but Gabu wanted more. If this relationship was going to work out between them, then she had to not only be excepting of the goat, but have some sort of friendship with Mei as well. If Mika was able to get close to the goat to, then she would be more likely to not spill the secret as well as starting to open up more to the special bond he shared with Mei.

"So, what did you tell Rin?" Gabu asked, as they made their way over the sand. "Where you able to convince her not to say anything?"

Mika gave a slight shrug. "I was able to buy you some more time. I told her you need time to decide what you wanted to do." Mika turned away from him before continuing. "Honestly, . . . I'm not sure how to convince her to not say anything at all. She's pretty upset about this."

Gabu paused in his advance to the stream and turned back to face Mika. "You said you would handle it! Mika, if Daichi finds out about this . . . If she tells . . ."

"I know! I know!" She stared back at him, anxiety in her eyes. "If Daichi finds out about Mei, he will have you banished from the pack, or worse . . ." She shook her head, forcing the thought away. "I don't want that to happen to you, Gabu. You know that."

"But Rin . . ."

"I'll think of something," Mika promised, before continuing towards the stream. "Just give me some time."

* * *

Mei was waiting for Gabu in Pleasant Valley with his friends: Sadow, Sada, Mino, Doi, and Hara.

"This is a bad idea," Hara said for the hundredth time. "You're going to get us all eaten!"

"No one is forcing you to stay," Mino spoke up from her perch on Mei's back.

"You're not nervous?" Sadow gasped at the red headed bird. "Are mother always warned us to stay away from wolves," he said, nudging his sister who was standing next to him. "If our parent's knew what we were doing . . ."

"Well, they don't know, and nobody is going to tell them!" Sada stated boldly. "Besides, Mei trusts the wolf. That's good enough for me."

Sadow rolled his eyes. "And some of us are too trusting."

Sada sent her older brother a glare in response.

"Relax guys," Mei said. "I promise, nothing bad is going to happen. I trust Gabu, and so can you."

Everyone turned as one towards the woods when they heard someone making their way through the last of the underbrush. Gabu's head appeared first, followed shortly by Mika.

"Two wolves!" Doi squawked, flapping his wings in terror.

"Not good!" Hara cried, scampering behind Mei. "One wolf was bad enough, but this . . ."

"Do you know that other wolf, Mei?" Mino whispered into his ear.

Mei nodded, a smile crossing over his face. "That's Gabu's new mate. Her name is Mika. I'm pretty sure we can trust her."

"Pretty sure?" Hara questioned, staring up at Mei. Her ears were laying flat against her head and her little body was starting to shake. "I don't like the sound of that."

"It's okay," Mei tried to reassure them. "Gabu wouldn't have invited her over if he didn't trust her."

"Hey," Gabu greeted, finally making it over to the group. "Mika, these are Mei's friends. The birds are Mino and Doi. That's Sadow and his sister Sada, and the bunny is Hara," he introduced gesturing to each in turn. "Guys, this is Mika. She's going to be hanging out with us today."

When Gabu had finished talking, Mika leaned over to whisper in his ear. "The goat was bad enough. I didn't know you were friends with other creatures, too."

Before Gabu could say anything in response, Sada spoke up from her place near Mei's feet. "Hey, let's play a game!"

Realizing his sister was trying to break the tension that had settled over the group, Sadow stepped in in agreement. "What should we play?"

"How about 'Hide and Go Seek Tag'?" Mei asked. "I used to play it all the time with my old friends."

Gabu nodded happily. "I used to play that all the time growing up."

"How do you play?" Hara asked skeptically, peeking her head out from behind Mei.

"It's similar to 'Hide and Go Seek', but we need to choice something to be the base. Whoever is 'it' has to close their eyes and count to ten, while everyone else hides. Then, the animal who is 'it' has to tag someone before they can make it back to the base. Whoever is tagged is 'it' next," Mei explained.

"Okay!" Doi cried.

"Sounds like fun!" Sada said, bouncing in excitement.

"Let's play!" Gabu exclaimed.

"So, what's going to be the base?" Hara asked, stepping out from her hiding place. At the mention of the game, she had forgotten about her initial worry and was starting to get excited.

"How about the roof of Full Moon Burrow?" Mei asked, standing up on his back legs and pointing one hoof towards his and Gabu's home.

"That will do," Gabu said, nodding in approval. "Any volunteers to be 'it' first?"

"I'll do it," Mika spoke up.

"Great!" Gabu cheered. "Come one, guys. Let's go hide!" And he turned to race back towards the trees, they others following close behind.

Mika followed them until she reached the edge of the valley before stopping to close her eyes, and she began to count.

"One . . ." Mika called out loud.

Mino and Doi left their friends behind, and took off higher into the trees, disappearing from view.

"Two . . . Three . . ."

Sadow began to climb the trunk of a nearby tree.

"Four . . . Five . . ."

Sada jumped onto Mei's back and together they took off in a different direction.

"Six . . . Seven . . ."

Hara dived into a hole to hide.

"Eight . . . Nine . . ."

Gabu paused glancing back and forth, looking for a place to hide.

"Ten! Ready or not, here I come!"

The wolf gulped in panic before quickly diving into a bush for cover, and tried to keep still.

Mino and Doi were sitting on a branch high up on one of the trees near the valley, as they waited for Mika to pass by underneath them.

"There she is!" Doi cried and pointed down at the female wolf.

Mino covered her beak with a wing to stifle her laughter as they watched Mika continue on without even glancing up.

"Come on!" Doi nudged his mate. Taking off again, the pair headed back to Full Moon Burrow to wait for the others.

Mika paused to sniff the air. She instantly recognized the scent of squirrel in the air, and she turned to look up at the leaves. After a second, she spied one of the squirrels jumping from branch to branch high above her. She guessed it was Sadow by the animal's size.

Twisting around, Mika started to follow after the creature before hesitating. She didn't have a chance of catching him while he was high up in the trees. She stood a much better chance in tagging Gabu, Mei, or the bunny than she did of the birds or the squirrels. Deciding to let the squirrel go, Mika turned back to keep looking.

Gabu's ears perked up when he heard a twig snap somewhere in the distance. He froze, straining his ears as he tried to determine if the animal was getting closer to his location. Hearing the crackle of a leaf coming from just a few feet away, Gabu hugged the ground with his body. After a moment of silence, he let out the air that he had been holding in a long sigh.

Slowly, Gabu moved a few leaves out of his way, so he could see what was going on outside of his hiding place.

Mika was going in circles, sniffing at the ground.

"Is she trying to track me or one of the other animals?" Gabu wondered to himself as he studied her.

His eyes then caught sight of a small brown head peeking out of a hole roughly ten feet away from him.

While Mika had her nose down, sniffing at a tree to his right, Gabu watched as Hara pulled herself out of the hole and carefully started to move back towards Pleasant Valley.

Hara started to move faster to get out of sight of the wolf, and accidently stepped on a twig. The bunny froze in fear and pricked up her ears, to scared to turn around and see if Mika had spotted her.

As the sound reached Mika's ears, she turned her head to find no one behind here, but her nose told her that something was close by.

Hara began to move forward again as Mika took a couple steps in the direction of the scent.

Slowly moving around the tree that had been blocking her view, the little creature finally came into the female wolf's line of sight.

Mika let out a low growl, letting the animal know that she had been spotted.

The brown bunny jumped in surprise and spun around, fear written all over her face. She slowly took a couple steps backwards, not wanting to take her eyes off of the wolf in front of her.

Hoping for a good chase, Mika crouched down and let out another growl. Seeing the bunny staring back at her, frozen in place, the wolf felt her stomach rumble in need. The creature standing just feet away suddenly looked very tasty.

Still crouched low to the ground, Gabu watched as Mika took a couple small steps towards Hara. The gradual approach finally snapped the bunny out of her shock, and Hara turned to hurry in the direction of the valley.

Mika waited a few seconds to give the bunny a head start, watching as the frighten animal hurried away as fast as its little legs could carry it. Mika licked her lips in anticipation, before taking off after her prey.

Gabu hesitated, making sure the coast was clear, before journeying out from under his bush. He gave himself a quick shake to get rid of the leaves that were stuck in his fur, and then began to make his way back to the den that he shared with Mei.

The male wolf was about halfway back to Pleasant Valley when he heard someone behind him call his name. Turning his head, he saw Mei heading towards him with Sada still on his back.

"Have you seen Mika yet?" Mei asked when he drew closer.

"We saw her head passed us as she entered the woods, but we haven't seen her since," Sada explained in a whisper.

Gabu nodded before gesturing down the path he had been heading in. "She found Hara and started chasing her . . ."

"Aahhhhh!" someone cried out, interrupting Gabu.

"What was that?" Sada screeched in alarm.

Neither Mei nor Gabu bothered answering. Instead, the friends took off running in the direction of the cry for help.

Gabu raced ahead with his long legs, and broke out of the cover of trees in time to see Mika pounce at Hara, pinning her to the ground.

Mino and Doi were both flying around franticly, not sure what to do to help.

"Stop, Mika!" Gabu cried in desperation when he saw the female wolf start to lower her head towards the bunny's neck. "Get off!" he demanded, before lowering his head, and running into Mika at full speed.

Free from the wolf's grasp, Hara scampered into the entrance of Full Moon Burrow.

Mei headed passed Gabu and Mika without even glancing in their direction. Sada jumped off of Mei's back to join her brother on the grassy roof of the den, while the goat entered his home to check on Hara.

Embarrassed by her lack of control, Mika nervously turned her head around to see all of the different animals that surrounded her staring back with a mixture of shock and fear. Mika could feel her heart aching at the looks of terror on everyone's faces, but the one opinion that meant the most to her was Gabu's.

Mika pushed herself up into a sitting position before finally making eye contact with her recently made mate. She was surprised to see a shy smile on his face. There didn't seem to be the slightest hint of anger coming from him, just a look of sadness in his eyes.

"Gabu . . . I'm sorry. I . . ."

He simply shook his head. "Don't be . . . You know, I almost ate Mei the first time we met up face-to-face."

Mika blinked at him in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah," Gabu said. "He is a goat, after all. It took me a little while to stop contemplating rather or not to eat him, but; looking back on it now, not eating him was the best decision I ever made."

"I told you!" They heard the cry come from the entrance to the den. "I told you it was a bad idea to bring the wolves here! They are dangerous predators, Mei! You can't trust them!"

Mika turned her head to the ground in despair. She had to hand it to Gabu. He made his friendship with the white goat look so easy and natural.

Gabu nudged the female wolf to gain her attention, before gesturing with his head towards Lush Wood. "Come on. I'll walk with you back to Silver Sand Beach."

Mika nodded her head before following Gabu out of the valley, leaving the still unease witnesses staring after them.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Rin raised her head as Mika entered the den that they shared.

"Hey," Rin called to her friend. "Where have you been?"

Mika shrugged, still feeling low after what had happened with Hara. "I was hanging out with Gabu."

Rin sat up straighter at the mention of the new wolf. "Speaking of Gabu, is he going to join the pack or not?"

Mika shrugged her shoulders again. "He's really close with that goat, Rin. He doesn't want to stop seeing him, but he likes hunting with us. He wants a couple days to figure out what he's going to do."

Rin rolled her eyes as she laid back down on the hard ground. The choice seemed obvious to her. Why keep hanging out with a goat, when a pack of his own kind wanted him to join them permanently? There shouldn't be anything to think about.

"How are things going with you and Gabu? Any progress in the romance department?" Rin teased, letting the issue go for the moment.

Mika let a smile grow on her face. Finally, a topic she wanted to discuss. "Actually, yes! I told him I liked him, and he said he feels the same."

"You have a mate!" Rin cried out in excitment for her friend. "Well, now Gabu has to join us! He can't be with you, and continue to spend nights with that goat."

Mika frowned at this. "It's more complicated than that," she said, hoping Rin would drop it.

"But Mika . . ." Rin tried to press the subject, but Mika turned away from her as she laid down with her head on her paws.

"Let it go," Mika groaned in annoyance. "It's getting late. Go to sleep."

Rin pouted as she unhappily laid her head down.

Nothing about this made sense. Gabu had a pack that wanted him as a member and a mate waiting for him, yet he needed to think about the offer because he didn't want to loose his goat-friend? The strangest part was that Mika seemed to be in no hurry for her new mate to join her over here.

Rin had been friends with Mika since they were pups and she had never been this dodgy with questions before. She was hiding something. Rin was sure of it.

* * *

Gabu helped the other wolves drag their catch from the day's hunt back to their dens so the elders and pups could have something to eat.

"Great job today, Gabu," Daichi praised. "I don't think we would have been able to bring down that deer without your help."

"Thanks, Daichi," Gabu said, bowing his head slightly to the packs leader.

The uncanny resemblance between Daichi and Giro still shocked him at times, but personality-wise the two were nothing alike.

Growing up with Giro as a leader had been challenging at times. The wolf had a tendency to be overly critical about everything. The smallest mistakes would get him angry. Living under Giro's rulership, Gabu had felt like he could never do anything right. Nothing he did ever seemed to be good enough for his old leader.

Daichi was different. He was tough on the pack, but the way he went about it always felt more encouraging and supportive rather than demanding. Daichi knew that nobody in his pack was perfect. Instead of pulling them down emotionally by focusing on their weaknesses, he chose to look at the strengths that each of his members had, and used them to his advantage.

Gabu could see the difference this had in the wolves that followed under Daichi. They all seemed a lot happier and relaxed in their surroundings.

This made it even harder to know that Rin knew his secret, and could spill it to Daichi at any time. He liked what he had going here, and he desperately didn't want to lose any of it.

As Daichi walked away, Gabu spied Mika in the distance talking to Tadashi and Jun, and headed over in their direction.

"Come on, Mika," Gabu heard Jun say as the wolf scooted closer to her side. "Why don't we go for a walk by the river?"

"I said no, Jun," Mika insisted, taking a step away from him. "I keep telling you I'm not interested."

"Hey, Mika," Gabu spoke up as he sat down next to her, hoping Jun would back off in the process.

Mika smiled at him. "Hey, Gabu," she greeted. Her smile faulted slightly as she continued. "Do you still want to hangout his afternoon?"

Mika wasn't entirely sure rather she wanted to venture back across the stream to spend more time with the other creatures, especially after how last time went. She hoped she would be able to control herself better this time.

"What?" Jun jumped in, bringing Mika out of her thoughts. "You've been spending time with the newbie?"

"Don't tell me you're jealous," Rin replied, coming over to join them.

"Jeal-. Me?" Jun stuttered. "No . . ."

Gabu couldn't help the smile that crossed his face at seeing Jun squirm uncomfortably under Rin's stare. It wasn't to long ago that he had been in Jun's place. It was hard having a crush on a girl and discovering that it was never going to happen.

"You ready to go?" Gabu asked, turning back to Mika.

"Sure."

Getting to their feet, they started to walk away from the group, leaving Tadashi and Jun to stare after them.

"Hey!" someone called from behind them.

Turning back, the pair saw Rin hurrying over.

"Where are you two heading?" Rin asked.

"Just for a walk," Mika stepped in before Gabu could say anything. "We were just going to head towards Silver Sand Beach to talk for awhile."

A glint in Rin's eyes told Gabu she didn't believe a word of it.

"Uh-huh . . ." Rin sighed letting her eyes linger on Mika before turning to Gabu. "So, have you considered our ultimatum?"

Gabu and Mika shared a look before turning back to Rin.

"Umm, well . . ." Gabu paused before going on. "Look . . . Is there any chance you could agree to keep Mei a secret?"

"No!" Rin cried in astonishment. "Your friendship with that . . . creature is unnatural. It can't continue. Especially if Mika is going to be your mate."

"What do you mean?" Mika questioned.

"What kind of relationship can you have with a wolf who can't truly commit to you?" Rin asked, focusing her attention on Mika.

"Hey!" Gabu spoke up, angrily. "I can commit to a romantic relationship, and still be friends with Mei!"

"Really?" Rin narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, before looking back at her friend again. "What if you get pregnant, Mika? What will happen if pups got in the middle of this? There is no way Gabu can commit to being a father, and keep going back to that goat every night."

"We could work out the details later," Mika pressed. She was only just starting to learn how important Mei was to Gabu, but she already knew that their special bond should not be broken. "If you agreed not to tell Daichi or anybody else about it, we could figure out the rest."

Rin stared into her friend's eyes and saw the desperation looking back at her. She knew how much Gabu meant to Mika. She had been Mika's friend practically from the moment they were born, and desperately wanted her to be happy, but that was exactly why she had to do this.

Shaking her head slowly from side-to-side, Rin said, "I'm sorry, Mika, but this isn't right. It will cause far to many problems in the future if it continues." She turned her eyes back to Gabu. "You have to choice: Mika or that goat?"

* * *

"She's right, you know," Mei sighed after hearing what had happened.

Mei, Gabu, and Mika were laying down in the green meadow, in the open space between Lush Wood and Full Moon Burrow.

"So . . . what do we do?" Gabu asked, letting the words out slowly.

"You should join the pack," Mei said. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I have other friends here."

Gabu shook his head, shocked that Mei would even suggest that. "You're my best friend, Mei! I can't join the pack if it means never seeing you again."

"Well, the only other option is for you and me to leave," Mei pointed out.

"And leave Mika?" Gabu gasped, turning his head to look at his new mate.

"What if I left with you guys?" Mika suggested. "You and Mei would still be friends, and we could still be together."

Gabu shook his head. "I can't ask you to do that. The pack is your family. This is your home."

* * *

As the three friends tried to work out their future plans, one sly wolf was hiding in the bushes watching everything.

Rin let a low growl out between her teeth in fury.

"This is bad," Rin noted to herself. "One wolf being involved with that goat was wrong, but this . . ."

Rin forced the braches behind her to give as she pushed herself backwards out of the bush, and gave herself a quick shake.

"Next thing you know, they will be inviting me to hang out with that kid," she snarled. "How could Mika have gotten herself wrapped up in this?"

Mika was supposed to be her best friend. They had been through everything together, and now Mika was trying to make plans to possibly run off with that . . . animal.

Hurt and anger sored through Rin's body.

Enough was enough. This had to stop. Things could not go on like this.

The wolf took off, back through the woods. She had to talk to Daichi. She had to tell him everything.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

By the time Mika had to head back home, the friends still hadn't come up with a plan.

"I thought Mei was going to be more angry to see me," Mika admitted as her and Gabu carefully made their way down the pile of rocks to the sand.

"Why would Mei be mad at you?" Gabu asked, jumping off the last rock.

"Because I almost ate his friend yesterday," she reminded him.

Gabu turned around to send her a smile. "That's one of the great things about Mei. He never holds a grudge."

"You know . . ." Mika started slowly, as they headed closer to the stream and sat down next to each other. "You never told me how you two met. How did this friendship of yours start in the first place?"

"That's an interesting story," he stated. Staring off into the distance, he smiled to himself as he thought back to that day so many months ago. "It all started one stormy night . . ."

* * *

As Mika slowly made her way through the Black Forest, she thought about the story that Gabu had just told her.

When Gabu and Mei had first met in that rundown barn, they had no idea who they were talking to. They had learned about everything they had in common before discovering their differences. No wonder they had decided to give the friendship a try. If the goat and wolf had met under any other circumstances, they probably wouldn't be friends today.

Her mind was still wheeling from the story when Mika entered the open field that lay in front of the separate cave entrances that the pack used as their dens.

"There she is!" shouted Tora, causing Mika to stop in shock.

Mika hadn't realized at first that the whole pack was gathered in the open space. She had just walked into the middle of a pack meeting that was currently in progress, and thanks to Tora, they were now all staring at her.

"Traitor!" someone in the crowd shouted at her, and she back up a step at the hostility in the voice.

Everyone was staring back at her in either confusion or consumed anger. Scanning the crowd, Mika saw nostrils flaring, eyes flashing and closing into slits, and mouths were quivering and drooling in their displeasure.

Unsure of what was going on, Mika looked away from her furious pack mates and glanced up at Daichi, who was standing on top of a rock so the whole group could see him. He was staring back at her with disappointment written all over his face.

Confusion continued to spin in Mika's head until the wolves parted, so a path could be made for her to walk straight up to stand before her leader.

Hesitantly, Mika walked through her infuriated pack mates. Halfway towards her destination, she spotted a wolf sitting by Daichi's right, next to the rock.

Rin.

Suddenly, the "traitor" comment that someone had thrown at her made sense. Her best friend had told on her . . . on her and Gabu.

"Mika!"

The wolf jumped at the booming sound of her name coming from her usually lay back leader. Her eyes widened in fear as she waited for what was going to happen next.

"Rin has told me that you have become friendly with a goat . . . Is this true?"

Mika turned her gaze towards the ground as an excuse to not have to look at the disappointment in Daichi's eyes.

"Well . . ." Mika paused, trying to think of something she could say to get herself out of trouble.

She could attempt to deny the whole thing, but then Daichi would probably ask Rin to take them to where Gabu had the goat, to prove rather or not her friend had been telling the truth. That would lead to Gabu taking the blame for everything . . . and Mei. The pack might kill Mei!

Deciding that it would be best to go with the truth, and take on some of the blame in the process, Mika forced herself to meet her leader's eyes again. Nodding slowly in agreement, she said, "Yes, it's true."

She heard the gasping and snarling from the wolves behind her, and she flinched as the sounds reached her ears.

"How did this happen, Mika?" Daichi demanded, looking down at her.

Mika took a deep breath to try and steady herself before coming clean. "Gabu and the goat, Mei, traveled over the mountains together after their family's found out about their friendship. Rin and I got curious as to why Gabu insisted on going back over to Lush Wood every afternoon after hunting with us, so one night we followed him."

Daichi turned his head to look down at Rin beside him. "How long have you known about this?"

"A couple of days," Rin admitted. "I wanted to tell you about it when I first discovered what was going on, but Mika convinced me to wait. She wanted to try and talk Gabu into breaking his friendship with the goat, before getting him into trouble." Facing Mika, she let out a disapproving snarl before continuing. "It wasn't until today that I learned that Mika had started hanging out with it too."

"This is unacceptable," Daichi growled between his teeth. "You know this can no longer continue. You, Mika, have been a respected member of this pack for years, but this kind of betrayal can not go unpunished."

This was followed by yowls of agreement from behind her, and Mika did her best to curl into a ball.

"Gabu is hereby banished from our pack," Daichi howled, so that the wolves in the very back would be sure to hear him, "and as for that goat . . . he must be taken care of at once!"

The pack yowled again in approval.

"Prepare for attack! We'll be leaving shortly," Daichi said, wrapping up the meeting before jumping down off of her pedestal, and he pulled Rin aside in order to talk to her in private.

As the party broke up, the wolves turned to discuss the latest events between themselves. Nothing like this had happened among their pack before, and everyone was getting hyped up for the coming attack.

Mika couldn't believe how fast her whole world had turned upside down.

Daichi had said she was going to be punished for her betrayal, but he neglected to drop any farther details at the moment. Was she going to be banished too? Having to stay in the pack with wolves that knew that she had become friends with a goat . . . that would probably turn out to be an even worse punishment than banishment. Her pack mates would never let her hear the end of it.

And Gabu and Mei! They were in trouble too. Huge trouble, and they weren't even aware of the danger that was coming their way! She had to get back to Full Moon Burrow. She had to try and warn them before it was to late.

Looking around at the wolves that were scattered everywhere, Mika realized that no one was watching her. They were all so hounded in on the idea of the future hunt that they had seemed to have forgotten about her for the moment.

Knowing that this opportunity wasn't going to last long, Mika pushed herself up onto her shaking limbs, and made a mad dash back in the direction of Silver Sand Beach.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Mika flew through Lush Wood as fast as her legs would carry her. It wasn't long before she found herself out of the woods and racing through the grass of Pleasant Valley.

"Gabu! Mei!" Mika yelled, praying that they were going to be home. Seconds later, she saw Gabu appear in the entrance to the den.

"Mika? What . . .?" Gabu started, but Mika cut him off.

"Where's Mei?" she demanded.

Gabu blinked, mystified by the look of panic on his mate's face. "He went to hang out with his friends for awhile before the sun goes down," he explained.

"We have to find him. Now!" Mika cried, starting to turn back to the woods to go look for him.

"Wait," Gabu said, jumping in front of her. "Talk to me first. What is going on?"

"Rin told Daichi," Mika explained, and watched as the realization crossed over Gabu's face. "He's getting a hunting team together right now to come after Mei."

Without another word, the pair turned and headed into the trees.

Using their noses, it didn't take long for them to locate the group of animals. Seeing that Hara was present, Gabu forced Mika to stop before they would become visible to them.

"You better wait here," Gabu whispered knowing that she would understand his concern, and he headed over towards the animals.

"Gabu?" Mika heard Mei's shocked voice at seeing his friend.

As Mika had expected, the brown bunny had dodged behind a tree at the sight of the wolf's approach. The other creatures hadn't moved from their original locations.

"Something's happened, Mei," Gabu said. "Can we talk?"

Mei nodded his head. "Sure."

Gabu then turned and started to head back to where Mika was hiding, knowing that Mei would follow him.

"Mika?" the goat expressed in shock when he saw the female wolf. "What are you doing here?"

Mika sent Gabu a look. When he nodded his head, giving her permission to tell him the news, she turned back to the goat.

"Rin told Daichi about you and Gabu. The pack is on their way here."

Mei's eyes widened in fear and shock at hearing the words. "What do we do?"

"I . . ." Mika paused, and pricked up her ears. "Do you hear that?" she whispered to Gabu. In the distance, she could clearly make out the sounds of running feet.

Nodding, Gabu nudged Mei, forcing him into a bush. "Hide!"

Huddling together, the three friends held their breath as they waited in silence. The sound of pounding feet grew steadily closer until they could see the feet rushing right passed them through the leaves of their hiding place.

"Now what?" Gabu asked when the wolves had drifted away.

"We don't have a choice anymore, Gabu. We have to leave," Mei stated calmly to his friend.

"I'm coming with you," Mika spoke up.

"No, we talked about that, Mika," Gabu insisted. "I don't want to pull you away from your family. You shouldn't get anymore involved with this."

"I already am involved," Mika pointed out. "Besides, Rin told Daichi that I was hanging out with Mei too. If I stay, I'm going to be in serious trouble."

Gabu sighed in truce. "I'm sorry, Mika. I shouldn't have talked you into coming over."

Mika shook her head. "Don't be. I care about you, Gabu, and Mei is my friend now too. I want to go with you."

"So, what's the plan?" Mei asked, bring them back to their current problem. "When they don't find us at the burrow, they are going to start searching these woods."

"We'll have to find a place to hide out until it gets dark and then make a run for it. It's our best chance of escape," Gabu reasoned.

"We still have a couple hours before sunset. Where are we going to hide?" Mika asked.

"I know a place," Mei whispered. "This way. Come on."

Mei lead the two wolves to an old, hollowed out tree that wasn't far from where they had originally been hiding in the bush.

"Sadow and Sada showed me this place. We played here a couple of times," Mei explained.

"It'll work," Gabu nodded in approval as they headed inside to get settled.

* * *

With Mei huddled in between the two wolves in an attempt to disguise his scent, the three friends sat in stone silence, too on-edge to try and communicate with each other.

Occasionally, the group did hear the pack moving around outside of their hideout, but the wolves never seemed to get too close.

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, the sun started to sink closer to the horizon. It had been awhile since they last heard the approach from one of their rivals as well.

"Maybe they gave up and went home?" Mei asked hopefully.

"Not likely," Mika noted. "They are probably just searching another part of the woods."

"It's almost sunset," Gabu added, watching the bright sphere in the distance. "We should probably get going."

Reluctantly, the group slowly made their way out of the tree and into the open.

"They've probably left Pleasant Valley by now," Mika said. "No cover of trees . . . lots of open space. They would have scanned it and moved on to check the woods fairly quickly. They wouldn't expect to find us there."

Mei nodded in agreement. "Lets start by heading in that direction."

Keeping their ears pricked for danger, the friends silently hurried away from the sinking sun.

As they stepped through the bushes that lead them onto the grassy, open field, Gabu and Mei couldn't help but turn to take one last look at Full Moon Burrow. It was the first place they had watched the moon rise together . . . the first home that they had shared together as best friends.

Turning away from the burrow that had so quickly become their home, the wolves and the little white goat hurried off into the distances, hopping to finally find a place where their friendship would be excepted.


	11. Author's Note

Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews. I'm glad you all liked this story.

A couple of you have been asking for more. This story is complete, but I have been thinking about making a sequel. The problem is I have no idea what to write about if I do continue this story. If you have any ideas for a sequel let me know . . .


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